Pastoral Care

When your child is sick, your world is turned upside down. But you don’t have to travel this journey alone — our pastoral care team is always here for you to provide strength and support when you need it the most.

We can help you:

cope with the stress of an illness
or hospitalization

discuss difficult decisions

deal with bad news

ease the loneliness and isolation of a hospital stay

offer religious rituals (sacraments, scriptures, and prayers)

contact a clergy in your own
religious tradition

Please feel free to call us for spiritual and emotional care for you, your child, or your family. We’ll meet you in the chapel, your child’s hospital room, or wherever you feel most comfortable.

About Our Chapel

Located on the first floor, near the gift shop and cafeteriaHours: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Our non-denominational Jessie Ball duPont Memorial Chapel is a sacred place for respite, prayer, quiet meditation, and reflection for people of all faiths. While you’re here, you can read the Bible and other sacred texts from a variety of faith traditions. We can also provide other devotional literature upon request.

Worship Services

Join us for one of our regularly scheduled worship services in the chapel.

Interfaith Prayer Service

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m.

Protestant Communion Service

Tuesdays at 12:15 p.m.

Roman Catholic Mass

Thursdays at 12:15 p.m.

Words of Comfort

Our pastoral care team has collected some prayers, quotes, and inspirational passages to keep with you to provide comfort during this stressful time.

Meet Our Team

Pastoral care services are provided by a dedicated staff of chaplains, volunteers, and interns who are trained in counseling and religious disciplines. We serve all families of all faiths, providing non-denominational support or care guided by your specific religion. We honor your beliefs — and we’ll never impose different values onto you or your family.

Cesar G. Espineda, MPhil, PhD, APD, MA, STM

Dr. Espineda is a faculty member of the joint Doctor of Ministry (DMin) and Doctor in Psychology (PsyD) program of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP) and the Graduate Theological Foundation. He’s also the Chair of the CPSP accreditation committee (a volunteer position he’s held since 2008) and a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Asia-Pacific Palliative Care Network, and the National Center for Crisis Management. In addition, he’s a diplomate board-certified expert in Traumatic Stress. Dr. Espineda has performed research, had articles published, and presented seminars on topics such as clinical pastoral care and education in the 21st century, end-of-life care, and ethics.

Education & Training

Pastoral Care is an important part of the overall care our patients and families receive at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. Our team of chaplains, volunteers, and interns meet the emotional and spiritual needs of all who enter our facility by:

visiting with patients and families

providing ongoing staff support

offering regular services in the chapel

What is Clinical Pastoral Education?

Clinical Pastoral Education and Training (CPET) is an interfaith model for learning pastoral care and counseling in a clinical setting. Based on the work of Anton Boisen, a minister and psychotherapist, CPET is dedicated to the study of “living human documents.” CPET provides educational opportunities that focus on teaching the skills of pastoral care, with an emphasis on self-understanding and uncovering the motivations related to pastoral care work. One unit of CPET consists of 400 hours of training and supervision.

CPET at the duPont Hospital for Children is open to clergy, theological, and rabbinical students, and qualified lay people from any faith tradition.

As a trainee, you’ll engage in clinical pastoral work and then reflect on your work with individual and group supervision.

While here, you’ll learn how to:

offer a variety of pastoral care services

use yourself as an instrument of pastoral care

identify child and adolescent development and family systems

gain self-awareness so these skills can be used to
benefit others

Our program is annually accredited by the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, an international, theologically-based community that provides certification for clinical chaplaincy, supervision, pastoral counseling, and pastoral psychotherapy.

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